A man (almost) alone: "Chris Gibson's the only one (Republican) in the plane!," said Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Schenectady, of the crowd of elected officials on Air Force One, which ferried the President and his aides as well as Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton, U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, plus Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, and Gibson, a Kinderhook Republican elected last year. (Unknown to Tedisco, U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-Utica, was also on the flight.)

Gibson said the White House reached out to him, and that he was delighted at the honor. "I said 'absolutely.' Many of these issues, they're not partisan issues. Energy is an American issue," the freshman congressman said.

"Photo ops don't create jobs. Fiscally conservative policy does. The fact still remains that the President's core philosophy of more government, more spending, more regulation and higher taxes has inhibited our economic recovery." -- State Republican Chairman Ed Cox, in a statement reacting to Obama's speech.

Labor contact: A day after press reports that Gov. Cuomo is considering reducing the state work force by more than 10,000 jobs, he had this exchange with a worker -- who remained unidentified because of the press cordon -- as both waited for Obama to address the crowd at GE:

Worker: "We're counting on you."

Cuomo: "I'm there for you, but you have to get behind me."

The mayor's on the clock: You may have missed Mike Manning during Obama's speech in Building 273, but the mayor of Watervliet was there. He was just sitting with his fellow employees.

Manning, an RPI graduate and materials science engineer, has been working in the building as a consulting engineer for the last three years. He previously worked for GE earlier in his career. And rather than attempt to secure tickets from one of the other, higher-powered elected officials at the event, Manning chose to enter the employee lottery. He won.

-- Schumer to Assemblyman Bob Reilly, D-Colonie, a staunch opponent of mixed martial arts, also known by the brand name Ultimate Fighting.

The littlest correspondent: By far the most excited member of the press corps at GE for the President's visit was 10-year-old Ellie Sommers, who was covering the event for Scholastic Kids Press. Sommers traveled to Schenectady from her home in Manlius, a Syracuse suburb.

"I was the closest reporter of the 57 in the U.S.," said Sommers, who unlike most reporters was accompanied by her father. She carried a notebook and tape recorder.